By Deng Akoldit Ajuong
Mr. Bol is a South Sudanese who lives near the Nile. He has planted a beautiful maize field. He lives next to the Nile. His neighbor is Mr. James, who needed to go away for study for three months. When he left, Mr. Bol’s maize garden looked green and beautiful. When he returned from his studies, Mr. Bol’s maize field was brown and dry. The cobs never even developed.
The next day, Mr. Bol visited Mr. James to ask him to help his family with food. Mr. James asked: When I left, your maize field was so beautiful. What happened to your maize field? Mr. Bol replied that his maize field failed because there wasn’t enough rain. Then Mr. James asked, you live right near the River Nile; why did you not take buckets and water your maize? Mr. Bol replied that he didn’t want to anger the spirits. If the spirits wanted his maize to grow, they would have sent the rain.
In South Sudan, many people are very poor. Therefore, many Christians, church leaders, government leaders, and the communities they serve are also very poor. When local churches want to preach the gospel, bring change, and serve poor people, it is also very important to understand how a way of thinking impacts poverty. The way of thinking about things like time, work, people, and creation shapes people’s actions and the way we live.
Mr. Bol thinking that spirits control creation leads to poverty and hunger in his family. As God’s steward of creation, Mr. Bol should rule over creation and use the God-given water to water his maize field. But he was passive and waited. This type of thinking leads to poverty and dependency.
One should not see each element of thinking separately but rather as an entire system of thinking. It isn’t just the separate effects of thinking about time, work, people, and creation, but also the combined effect of this way of thinking that leads to poverty.
In the traditional African way of thinking, time or history looks at the past. It is looking backwards. It is like walking towards tomorrow with your back towards tomorrow and your eyes towards yesterday. History is something that happens to you. Spirits control your life and your tomorrow. This type of thinking leads to losing hope; trapped in poverty, and there isn’t anything to be done about it. Life begins with problems. “My life is going nowhere.” This leads to a life of dependency, a life without purpose and hope.
In the biblical way of thinking, time has a beginning and an end. God is in control and creates man with a purpose to bring Him glory and to disciple nations. We are all part of his story. History is history. We can celebrate the past, enjoy the present, and plan for the future, looking forward. Man is made to create history. God created man with freedom and personal responsibility. It brings an understanding that we are all missionaries. “I am born with a purpose.”
Many Christians in South Sudan and also people with a traditional mindset see work as a curse. They believe that work came as a punishment after the sin of Adam and Eve. We work to survive.
In the biblical mindset, work was part of God’s plan from the beginning. God worked six days, and He rested on the seventh day. He gave Adam work before the fall. Adam had to name the animals, and they had to rule over and take care of creation. Work is part of man’s dignity and lifts our spirit. We work to bring God glory.
The Old Testament shows how God provided for the poor (Leviticus 23:22). Farmers may only harvest their fields once. If workers missed some of the harvest, they weren’t allowed to go through the field a second time. God also commanded that they weren’t allowed to harvest the edge of the field. The remainder of the harvest and the edge of the field were given to the poor to harvest. The poor could harvest behind the workers and harvest on the farmers’ land. The history of Ruth harvesting on the field of Boaz is a biblical example of how poor people could still work and not become dependent (Ruth 2:2-3).
The Writer can be reached at email:dengakol865@gmail.com / 0925966085